Smitten
by Kunoichan
Summary: He was always staring into the blue and white, but soon found himself staring at something completely different ... yes, this is long, but i guarantee it's worth it. set two years after shippuuden. read, review, enjoy. my first fan fiction.


He trudged past the crowded village, his hands shoved in his pockets and eyes gazing up at the sky. Large, thick clouds flowing separately across the perfectly blue sky; a sight which assured Shikamaru that today was going to be the day he had been waiting for a long, long time.

It was an afternoon in the mid-spring, when the last piles of snow had already melted to the ground and the warm sun was shining on peoples' faces almost every day, making them shake off their winter coats and settle for flowing dresses and short sleeved shirts. Today the sun was particularly hot, although it didn't shine down so directly because of the clouds, leaving Shikamaru one moment in the sunshine, another in shade as he walked by.

It didn't take him long to be lost in his own thoughts, looking up at the bright blue with white splattered across. However, it didn't take long for him to be shaken out of them either; a loud, familiar voice echoed throughout the village, calling his name.

"Shikamaru!! Over here!" His head turned to the direction the voice was coming from, surprised to see that it came from Ichiraku Ramen, the noodle bar Naruto practically lived in. It wasn't a surprise though that the caller was the loud blonde himself, accompanied with Sakura and Sai who were just smiling and waving silently. Shikamaru let out an annoyed groan, but convinced himself that he could always cloud-watch later in the day, and walked up to the stall.

"If it isn't Naruto," he smirked at the blonde ninja, who was grinning like a kid with a toy, seemingly happy to have more company.

"Hey, one for Shikamaru too !" Naruto exclaimed to the ramen bar owner, who smiled and disappeared into the kitchen once again. Shikamaru sat onto the rightmost stool, next to Sai, Sakura already occupying his other side.

"It's the perfect day off, ain't it?" Naruto grinned from the other side of the bar. Shikamaru let out a humorless laugh and shook his head. _I can just imagine his "perfect day-off"._

From Shikamaru's point of view, it was probably just to fill himself up with ramen and go to the training grounds to perfect some jutsu. Or to goof off. The possibilities were equal.

"I guess it depends on the person you ask," he said, resting his cheek in the palm of his hand and his elbows on the table, with the trademark annoyed look on his face.

"Well, I'm asking _you_ what you'll do on a perfect day-off, then." The blonde's eyes narrowed, now staring quizzically at his dark-haired comrade.

"He's right, you know," Sai muttered suddenly. "We all prefer different activities. I, for instance, would never consider training on a day off, like you."

Shikamaru chuckled. He had guessed right.

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted like he'd been painfully offended by Sai's comment. That expression, however, wiped off his face and turned into and ear-to-ear grin in a matter of seconds when a big bowl of ramen was placed in front of him. He immediately grabbed his chopsticks and started shoving the noodles in his mouth with incredible speed. It was obvious he was hungry. Sakura, Sai and Shikamaru just watched, their mouths watering, as Naruto scarfed down his double-sized ramen. In a moment they had their bowls in front of them as well, and started eating, not as fast as Naruto, though. 

"So, Shikamaru," Sai mumbled in between chewing. "What did you want to do today anyway?"

Shikamaru swallowed his ramen down. "I didn't really have any plans, maybe to just watch some clouds."

"Yeah, the sky is very beautiful today," Sai nodded in agreement. "I think I'm even going to capture it on canvas."

Shikamaru chuckled and finished his bowl. He rose from his seat, thanking everyone for the food and company, and continued onward, looking up at the sky again. It looked as beautiful as ever, even after the twenty minutes he had spent in the ramen bar, worried that the clouds would have already swum away.

He took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of the village. The scent of warm bread and sweet pastries coming from the bakery across the street, clashing with the freshly picked roses and and lavenders from the flower shop nearby was divine. _This must be the most perfect day in the spring. Clouds, ramen, the __village smelling nice …_ He smiled to himself slightly at the latter thought.

____________________________________________________________________________________ 

After a good ten minutes of walking, Shikamaru finally arrived at his destination; the high cliff on the outskirts of the village where you could see it in its full glory, as well as a bit farther, too. The dense forests surrounding Konohagakure and the whole Land of Fire, as well as a peek in the Valley of the End that worked as a border for the Land of Fire and Sound. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, and without hesitation Shikamaru laid himself down onto the grass, placed his hands behind his neck and raised his gaze to the picturesque looking sky. Huge, thick and isolated clouds, still floating against the blue. His eyes ran from one cloud to the other, trying to search for some shaped ones.

_There's one .. looks like a mutated fruit. Maybe it's a pear.  
That one is definitely a little dog. Huh .. reminds me of Akamaru when he was little._

An image of the once little puppy; who had grown into a huge canine, even bigger than his master, Kiba, was brought to his mind. How quickly had time flown by. It felt like yesterday that six years ago, they all were fresh genin, practicing their ninja abilities to be all the more skilled, and later competing for a place in the chunin exams; he remembered everyone as just some young, troublesome kids.

Ino was the girly Sasuke-freak. Now she owned a small flower shop and was very powerful with her now improved mind manipulating techniques.

Naruto was the arrogant troublemaker, always damaging academy property, always interrupting the classes. Nowadays he had grown into a strong man who was using his strength with care and consideration, and always wanting to learn more.

Gaara was homicidal and emotionless towards everybody, he killed without regret or mercy, and never really did know what love or friendship was. With the help of his siblings, Naruto, and time, he finally had realized what the term 'love' genuinely meant, and he learned that love, not blood, was truly the most important thing in the world.

And that, in Shikamaru's opinion, was probably the reason that helped Gaara to become the Kazekage.

_Siblings …_

Shikamaru bit his lip, trying to remember Gaara's own. He had no doubt the Kazekage had siblings, and it didn't take him long to remember. Images of two teenagers popped into his mind, although Shikamaru doubted that they were teenagers anymore nowadays. They must have been grown-ups already because Gaara _was _the youngest child, and he was no younger than eighteen.

There was Kankurou, the skilled puppeteer in black, who almost never lost, thanks to his powerful puppets_. A bit strange, yes, but very strong; at least in long-distance combat._ And then there was Temari, the oldest in the bunch. Shikamaru clearly remembered her, as he did fight her in the chunin exams. He wondered what would she look like now. They haven't seen each other for quite some time, years actually. _She's probably just as scary - not to mention troublesome - as she was before._

His eyes were brought up to the sky once more, giving another try at making out some shapes of the clouds. They were starting to get a bit deformed because of the wind that was slowly blowing them away. Now Shikamaru could only make as much as rippled and torn pieces out of the white cotton of the sky instead of the huge, fluffy ones moments ago. He sighed. Maybe cloud-watching wasn't going to be such a long and enjoyable process as he'd hoped.

Perhaps taking a nap wasn't for the worse; actually, it seemed much better.

He listened to the wind slowly whistling in his ears, inhaled the scent of the grass and relaxed fully as his eyes slowly lidded shut. Sleeping really seemed like the best choice at the moment.

A cold gust of wind blew into his face, making Shikamaru shiver slightly and be awoken from his dreaming state. His eyes shot open to examine the area around him, as to just check that everything remained unchanged, and were once again brought up to the sky. It, though, wasn't unchanged. The clouds had drifted away a while ago, revealing the perfect light blue behind them.

_So much for cloud-watching, _Shikamaru thought. He sat up, rubbing his aching neck where his hands had rested on the whole time. Yawning, he glanced at his watch, which indicated that his enjoyable nap had lasted only for about forty-five minutes, maybe an hour. Not bad, considering the sun being quite hot.

He was just about to stand up, but a voice echoing behind startled him. Recognizably female, but quite deep, and borderline sarcastic.

"Nice view."

He tilted his head backwards to peer at the caller and realized that he was looking at a tall figure a couple feet away from him. The person wasn't looking at him back, though; instead, she was too busy being captivated by the breathtaking scenery beyond, as well as the beautiful blue sky. He watched as the bright rays of sun shone on her face, bringing out the delicate features and making her eyes glisten. Something about her made Shikamaru feel like he had seen her before.

After she was seemingly done with admiring the sight, she moved her eyes down to the dark-haired boy eyeing her.

"Can I help you?" she asked with that unique voice of hers. Her eyes narrowed slightly and an annoyed expression was spread across her face as he instantly realized that he was just caught for staring at her. He shook his head quickly and brought his eyes down to the grass, where a small ladybug seemed to be wandering on and between the grass blades.

"You seemed like you had a good nap," she smirked. He cringed, but unnoticeably. She had caught him off-guard, in his most vulnerable state, sleep.

"I guess you can call it that," he said with a huff.

"I wouldn't mind to sleep under such a sky myself," she sighed. "We don't have any of this in Suna."

_Suna, eh? _

Shikamaru had another go at trying to remember this girl. He did know some women from the village of Sand, but seemingly none of those matched with this one. Who _was _this girl?

He was suddenly shaken out of his thoughts as he noticed her walk away to the edge of the cliff, waving eagerly to someone down below. She shouted something that sounded like an exclamation to praise the amazing scenes above. Within moments she was back beside him, this time she sat down next to him, not too close though. She noticed Shikamaru looking at her quizzically, so she explained herself.

"It's my little brother. I wanted to tell him how beautiful it is up here."

"How come he's not here to enjoy this himself?"

"He's .. err, afraid of heights. But I didn't tell you this, got it? He'll kill me if he found out that I told," she said, chuckling nervously.

"Your younger brother would kill you? Isn't there some kind of hierarchy in your family?" Shikamaru snorted.

"The hierarchy is pretty much messed up once your youngest brother becomes the Kazekage."

_Kazekage? _

That hit Shikamaru instantly. He _did _know this girl. The Kazekage was currently Gaara of the Desert. He had two siblings, and one of them was an older sister. He glanced at her briefly, and all the pieces came together, hitting him like a rock. She was Gaara's sister. That unique blonde hairstyle, those deep teal eyes. She was, no doubt, Temari.

What a coincidence. The girl he hadn't seen in almost two years was now sitting next to him.

They sat there for a while, just staring into the blue, not saying a word. Temari noticed the slight tension growing between them and broke the silence first.

"Hey. Do you have a watch?"

Shikamaru nodded. She leaned forward ever so slightly to see it. He pulled his sleeve up to look at the time. "4:13 PM."

"I better get going. I promised Gaara I'd only stay here for a little while." she sighed, pulling back.

"I think I'll go too. I guess the clouds weren't here to stay."

"Clouds? Damn," she huffed. "I should've come here earlier." She chuckled.

She rose, and held out her hand for the boy still sitting amongst the grass. Hesitantly, he took it and she pulled him up; a little too forceful though, so they ended up with their faces very close to each other. He tried to fight down the blush that was slowly creeping up his face, but Temari scanned his face thoroughly and carefully, as if trying to recall if she had seen him somewhere before.

"You look familiar," she murmured, raising one eyebrow. "What was your name again?"

"First, you never did ask my name," he said in a sarcastic tone. "Second, it's Nara Shikamaru."

She scowled at him. "Smart ass."

Shikamaru snorted.

She pulled back a step, eyeing him once more. And then she remembered as well.

Was it _that _Shikamaru, the troublesome lazy-ass? Looking at him now, his appearance hadn't really changed. The spiky dark hair and the narrow brown eyes had stayed the same. But something was there that Temari had never seen before. She didn't quite know what it was, but she had no time to figure it out.

"I know you. You're the lazy jerk."

"I guess that's one way of calling me." He snorted with an annoyed expression on his face.

She turned on her heel and trudged away down the steep cliff. When she had disappeared out of sight, Shikamaru followed. _Who had thought that reuniting with a comrade – if you could even call her that – would be so troublesome, _he thought. He shot a glance at the sky for the last time before descending down to the village.

Temari walked past the small shops and restaurants, cursing silently to herself. She needed to find her brothers, they had probably already gone their separate ways around the village, making it next to impossible to find them before it was going to be dark.

Damn, how she hated when the three of them visited other villages. Kankurou and her usually accompanied Gaara for meetings with the other Kages in different villages, and every time it was the same scenario. They separated to search for their own favorite activities in their free time - which in Gaara's case was relatively short, respectively - and in the end were looking for each other for hours.

Fortunately, Temari had a good idea of her siblings' whereabouts. Kankurou was, no doubt, in some puppet store; probably for inspiration only. And Gaara … well, she wasn't quite sure about that. But as long as she'd have the middle brother with her, it should be no hard effort to locate the other one. 

She picked up her pace, walking briskly but still trying her best to not push any residents aside; the streets were awfully crowded on a sunny Saturday afternoon like this. Her head shook vigorously as she shot a glance from one direction to the next, trying desperately to locate her brothers. Shouting their names, though, was completely out of the cards. First, she never really wanted to stand out in a different crowd. Second, they would probably just label her as some freak who was shouting for a Kazekage who may or may not even be in the particular village.

She walked on aimlessly, passing numerous shops and stalls. Stopping at a bench after a while and panting slightly, Temari realized, though, that she was unfortunately lost. The shops were not near as familiar; she couldn't pinpoint the ramen stall, Ichiraku Ramen, which Kankurou and Gaara had agreed on that it would be their usual meeting point. She huffed. Why didn't she team up with a Konoha resident she knew and go frolic around without fear of getting lost? Even that troublesome guy, Shikamaru, could not be as stupid as he looked like and would know the basic paths to shops she suspected her brothers to be at, or even to the siblings' apartment they had rented for their stay.

Cursing silently to herself for her shitty luck, Temari rose from the bench and looked around, desperately trying to find at least some trustful-looking villager who'd gladly guide her back to the city center.

"Excuse me - excuse me! Can you help me? Please ..?" she exclaimed, multiple times to different passersby, though they plain ignored her and continued their journey like nothing had happened. After a few more tries, she gave up.

_I guess I have to navigate myself back to the center, _she thought, her head hanging low. She brought her head up again and carefully looked around, trying to find at least some familiar looking shop, anything. She didn't locate any known shops, though, but she did notice somebody.

The spiky dark hair was slightly bouncing up and down as he trudged down the crowded streets, both hands shoved in his pockets and clearly focused in his own thoughts; ignoring the frantic shoppers who practically were slamming into him with their bags and he didn't even bother to look at them when that happened.

Her eyes widened with surprise and relief as she noticed him. _Finally, someone who knows these streets. _She made her way behind him and lightly tapped on his shoulder. He stopped, and turned his neck around so quickly she was sure he had wrenched it in some way. He frowned slightly when he saw her.

"What are you doing here?" he spat, clearly annoyed by her actions.

"I'm …" she cursed silently for having to say it, "I'm lost," she said as bluntly as she could, but with a hint of worry shining through her eyes.

"Are you kidding?" he snorted after a moment. Her eyes narrowed, now staring angrily at his face. "Konoha's not even that complicated. You cannot possibly be lost here," he continued.

"Well, I still am. Now if you'd stop acting like an asshole and guide me to where I need to be, I'd be grateful."

He turned silent and comically tapped a finger against his jaw, as if thinking something carefully. Finally, he fed her a glance and sighed. "Well, where do you need to go?"

She smirked in victory. "This can't be; the lazy-ass is finally mobile enough to actually guide me?"

He let out a humorless laugh. "Very funny. Now tell me where do you need to go."

She explained her destination, which seemed to crack Shikamaru up pretty badly.

She watched him have a good laugh for a moment, her smirk now lowering to an annoyed frown. "Yeah, I know I'm damn funny. Now help me get there, I'm in no need of wasting time wandering around." 

"You're joking? It's just around the corner. And you told me you're lost," he managed to say between his laughs.

Soon his expression turned from amused to serious, and he agreed to guide Temari to her meeting point.  
"Don't think I'm doing this voluntarily though, I just know that if I don't help, you'll still find me and demand me to walk you there." He pointed out.

The sun's bright rays lit up their faces as they walked on, not saying a word to each other. Temari's mind was set on finding her brothers and going home to receive her well-deserved rest; Shikamaru's objective was to get Temari to her particular place as soon as possible and get rid of her so he could finally go home and sleep, as his luck on cloud-watching hadn't been as good as he had hoped.

He glanced at her briefly, scanning her features. She hadn't really changed in these years, but something was there that was unexplainable. There was a certain thing that kept Shikamaru staring at her. Maybe it was the unique shade of teal in her eyes. Maybe it was the distinctive hairstyle. Maybe it was her smile – actually more like a devilish smirk –. And, in the end, he had to admit that he was hooked; he was unable get his eyes off of her.

She brought her eyes up to his, only noticing that he was staring at her. Heat rushed to her face and she frowned slightly. An awkward expression crept up his own face as he realized he had been caught. He turned away.

Finally, they arrived at Ichiraku Ramen. The tension between them had grown almost unbearable, and ten minutes of it while walking had been agonizing; so they were more than relieved to see Naruto and the two Sand brothers sitting on the stools, scarfing down their noodles with sheer bliss. Temari started running towards them, while Shikamaru slowly walked up to the stall to just say hi. 

"Naruto, you are starting to give me the impression that you practically live at Ichiraku," he chuckled.

He was answered with a cheeky grin from the blonde as he took a break from ravenously shoving down his ramen.

"Thank you for the food," said the crimson-haired young man from the right side of Naruto. Gaara rose from his seat, bowed politely to the owner and turned around to walk off. He was stopped when his sister grabbed firmly the back of his collar.

"You're not going anywhere. I'm starving because I was looking for you guys with _this kid_," she said, pointing at the dark-haired man sitting at the corner of the restaurant. Shikamaru frowned. _Kid?_ But watching the woman angrily shake her little brother, his lips upturned into a small smirk. _I guess the hierarchy is still in position, even if your youngest brother is a Kage._

With a huff, the Kazekage gestured his sister to sit onto his now vacant spot. Her eyes crinkled upwards and she ordered a ramen bowl as well. Sitting down next to her other brother she felt someone watching her, and instinctively turning her head to the left she found Shikamaru, resting his cheek in the palm of his hand and staring deeply at her. Her eyes widened in alarm and she felt her face grow hot. What was wrong with her? Feeling her face blushing more she wanted to turn away, but found herself unable and continued staring into those two dark brown orbs of his. Something was there – she couldn't exactly put her finger on it – that made her get lost in them, not ever wanting to tear her gaze away.

_What the hell is wrong with me? _She thought in worry, but got completely lost in the moment.

That moment, however, was miserably shattered. __

"You guys should seriously get a room, before this gets ugly," they both heard the blonde's annoyed comment. Temari turned her head towards Naruto, a murderous glare in her eyes, her eyebrow beginning to twitch. Shikamaru raised his head and gave the blonde a sympathetic glance, then huffed.

Soon, even after numerous apologies and begs from the helpless Naruto, he was punched into the wall opposite, the sight stopping a couple of villagers in their tracks. Temari tapped her hands together, as if to shake off the dirt that was there from hitting the poor boy and returned to her seat, finishing her meal.

She rose after a minute and thanked the owner for the food, then grabbed both her brothers by the arms and dragged them out of the ramen stall and to the street; including Kankurou, who was clearly pissed because she had carried him away when he hadn't even finished his bowl.

"Let go of me! I didn't even finish it! Come on, Temari! … Please!?"

Shikamaru watched as the young woman dragged her siblings down the street, and let out a grin when he heard Kankurou's pleads regarding his half-eaten ramen. _Troublesome woman, _he thought, smirking to himself. He turned on his heel and trudged off in the opposite direction.

The sun had begun to set over the clouds that had turned from off-white to numerous shades of orange, red and magenta. The beautiful sight had even left him wanting to stop for a while and admire its magnificent colors. But, being a determined (also tired) man that he was, he hastily made his way toward his apartment building which stood just a few blocks away.

He stepped up a couple stairs and fumbled for his key. Poking it through the keyhole and swinging open the door he revealed a dark, somewhat abandoned looking residence that one could tell immediately that it belonged to a boy named Nara Shikamaru. The living room was quite tidy for a male his age, and had a small deer figure on a shelf above the TV. Across the television a large shogi board was spread out, pieces already relayed so a game could be played at any given time.

Sighing, he snapped on the lights and shook off his jounin vest onto a small stool next to the door. He made his way to the bathroom and washed his face briefly. Walking up to the bed he took off most of his clothes, placing them onto a chair nearby. Leaving his mesh undershirt, he dove under the covers and buried his head into a soft pillow. Today really had been a good day. He had finally squeezed some time into his schedule to get down and cloud-watch, and despite the shortness of that, it was enjoyable. Meeting some of his friends hadn't been bad either.

His mind suddenly seemed to go on its own accord, as his thoughts drifted on to a particular friend he had met. The girl he had practically spent the day with. He fought down his own thoughts in a miserable attempt and brought his eyes up to the ceiling.

_What is wrong with me? Why am I thinking of her? She doesn't mean anything to me,_ he thought to himself.

But, subconsciously, he knew that he was horribly wrong. She _did _mean something to him. It was no point in denying it anymore: he wanted to see her once again. He wanted to see the way she smirked mischievously at him; the way her teal eyes twinkled; the way her hips swayed as she walked ahead of him. Sighing heavily, he forced his eyes closed and tried to wipe his thoughts away. He turned to one side and after a while, he finally dozed off.

* * *

As the sun pulled up from underneath horizon and onto the light blue sky, Temari strolled through a small, quiet alley which started near the apartment they had rented for the week and smiled to herself as she listened to the birds chirping contently and gliding in mid-air, over buildings and trees. Looking up, she noticed that they were two twittering swallows, flying around each other and performing tricks. _Adorable, _she thought. They had, most likely, already come back from their migrating journey to the southern countries; and as it was now spring, the time when most animals had their breeding seasons and humans were in love or just generally feeling blissful, these swallows were no exception. The way they frolicked around each other made Temari wonder if she'd notice similar action with the people around her when she walked to the end of the alley and turned to the broad main street.

She continued on, her theory slowly starting to be proved right. Walking past a flower shop, she caught sight of a big, tall man and a blonde girl stepping out. Temari recognized them quite easily; they were Chouji and Ino, teammates of Shikamaru. The two were laughing with each other, their hands entwined and were just generally enjoying each other's company. Temari watched after them as they walked on to the street, into the opposite direction and waving to her as they noticed her.

As a small park came into view, she decided to turn to her left and head through it. She had heard that it was incredibly beautiful in the spring, when the cherry trees and other fruit plants began to open their flowers and even carry a few fruits. She strolled through the park, soon being transfixed on the mesmerizing sakura trees, their pale pink flowers sending a fragrant aroma that engulfed her senses. The pink in the flowers contrasted the bright green grass beautifully, and she couldn't help but to sigh in bliss.

A small, wooden bench peeked out from a distance away, through the dense flower trees. As Temari came closer she noticed that someone was sitting on it. Two people, actually. A blonde, young man and a pink-haired girl. The shade of her locks was almost identical to that of the cherry blossoms.

Her head rested on his shoulder and his face was buried in her hair. They remained unmoving for a moment, and for that moment they looked so peaceful, serene, matching, that Temari wanted to pull up a canvas and paint them right there, under the large sakura tree. Or maybe she'd ask the pale, artistic boy to do it for her. After a couple seconds, Naruto removed his head from hers and she looked up at him. He smiled and bent down, planting a kiss near her ear. As he pulled away Sakura smiled contently. From that, Temari turned her head towards the pathway, not wanting to invade their personal moment anymore.

The image of the two stayed in her mind for a while, and as she played it back in her mind, a small smile was on her lips, but sadness lurked in her eyes as a rush of jealousy and longing engulfed her for a second.

She longed for company as well, a male kind. Someone who'd do those things that Naruto did to Sakura or Chouji did to Ino. Someone who'd hold her hand and chat and laugh happily with her. She hadn't really been given that kind of attention in a while. Ever, actually. Although she wasn't exactly jealous of her now love-struck acquaintances, Temari watched after them, wishing that the same would soon come to her.

She was twenty-one years old and was quite surprised with herself that she hadn't had a boyfriend yet – if the silly lovey-dovey games from kindergarten didn't count as that –. Yes, she did have some guys from Sunagakure offering to be hers, but she'd rejected them because she thought it was only to gain status as the boyfriend of a woman who was the sister of Kazekage. She hadn't found anyone who'd genuinely love her, and not care about her whereabouts or the fact that she was one of the Kazekage's closest relatives.

With a huff, Temari pushed her thoughts along with her sadness to the back of her head, as she approached the end of the pathway in the park which linked to another street. She fed the cherry trees one last glance, before turning to the street on the other side of town. It was very empty; with only a few shoppers and passersby, it was quite a contrast to yesterday's overly crowded road.

She wasn't relatively sure where she wanted to go, though. She just had a special liking in just strolling around the village in the late afternoon without any specific reason or destination, simply admiring the sights and listening to the sounds around her.

After a good hour of aimless wandering, Temari finally got bored and decided to head home. Luckily, this time she wasn't lost, as she quickly found the park she had strolled through earlier which lead to a pathway to her house. Trudging onward past the trees bustling with sakura blossoms, the same bench she had seen Sakura and Naruto sit on came around. It was empty now, with no one sitting on it. Feeling almost sympathetic to the lonely looking piece of wood – and ridiculing herself for that after – Temari sat down onto the bench and eyeing the beautiful flower trees around. They never stopped mesmerizing her; they looked so delicate and simply lovely. The wind gently whistled in her ears and making the branches swing slightly back and forth, causing her to relax and want to fall asleep. Her eyes finally fluttered close and she fell into a dream-like state; she had someone sitting very close to her, then moving his hand around her shoulder, then pulling her closer so her eyes were captured with his dark, rich-colored orbs, then leaning forwards, closer every second …

Her eyes snapped open. She searched around, only to find that she was only with herself, with no one actually cuddling him. She'd dreamt once again. Sadly, she couldn't remember the boy in the dream. _Maybe just some stranger from somewhere, _she thought, sighing to herself. How had she turned into such a love-sick person? Last week, she didn't even bother to think about such things. Love seemed to play a particularly small role in her life. Sure, she loved her brothers and friends as much as she always had, but that special kind of love that you share with the opposite gender had always been absent for her. Now it had spun into a completely different direction, with her staring at happy couples with a faraway look, trying to find at least some decent-looking guy to just have a chat with, for the start.

What could have caused all this madness in her head? Who was to blame for making her dream about the opposite gender? She didn't really want to find out, so she rose to her feet and walked out of the park and soon turned to the narrow alleyway leading to the familiar apartment building. She ran a good deal of stair flights, nine actually. It was the only cheap flat available at that time, and the elevator was broken so they had to run over a hundred stairs to get there. Luckily, the view from there was absolutely breathtaking. They could see every sunset, sunrise and starry sky fully by just looking out of their balcony.

Temari shook off her sandals and walked up barefoot to the slide door to the balcony, gingerly sliding it aside and stepped to the balustrade, leaning forwards and resting her elbows against it. The day had started to end, and to confirm that a captivating sunset opened up before her. The bright yellow sun was already close to the horizon, making the sky around it orange, which shaded up to crimson, then rich purple.

She got lost in the scenery, staring far away into the distance. A short while after she was shaken out of it, as she noticed Kankurou walk up to the railing and sighing contently, seemingly liking the view ahead.

"It's beautiful," she said, not tearing her gaze away from the sky. Kankurou managed to nod.

"By the way, where had you been?" he asked her.

"I just went for a little walk around the village."

He smirked at the understatement of the duration. "Yeah, right, little. You practically were away the whole day. But heck, it was only for the better. For us, you know." He chuckled.

She turned to him, now staring angrily at his face, looking like she had been offended by his remark. He realized it instantly and began to ramble about how they only got to eat their ramen in peace and so on, but she just smiled slightly in understanding and turned away to walk back into the living room, turning on the TV and grabbing a pillow from the other side of the couch. She flipped through most of the channels and finally stopping at a familiar looking movie. She watched it for some time, before falling asleep and being later awoken by her younger brother.

"Temari," Gaara shook her shoulder as her eyes slowly opened.

"Did I fall asleep?"

Gaara nodded stiffly. She cursed for sleeping during the whole film. She stood up from the couch and looked outside through the glass door, only to see an extremely dark sky with thousands of bright stars shining on it. It fascinated her so much she thought that maybe Konoha had some particular trait that always made the sky specially beautiful. They only had thick clouds covering the sun which loosened only seldom_. Or maybe I'm just having my head in the clouds_, she thought, remembering to not paying that much of attention to the sky before.

_My personality's changed over the last couple days. I wonder what the hell is _really_ wrong with me._

"I'm going," she called before slipping on her sandals and swinging the door open. She only heard a muffled 'mm-hmm' from both of her brothers and Temari closed it behind her, starting down the stairs which seemed to never end. After a good five minutes they eventually did. She strode down a different way than before, following a small, meandering path to a grassy plain and finally to the root of a huge, steep cliff she had formerly visited. Clambering up the cliff she walked on to her favorite spot, only to notice that someone was there, on that very spot. But she seemed fine with that, as she wasn't much of a territorial person and because the cliff had plenty of space to lay on wherever possible. It was only after she had quietly come closer to the person and identified.

Shikamaru was sitting amongst the soft grass, one knee bent and his other leg stretched out in front of him, a thoughtful expression on his face and his eyes staring upwards, at something far beyond the starry sky. Temari swallowed hard and silently made her way toward him. He heard rustling from his side as she sat down a couple feet from him. He tore away his gaze from the sky and onto her, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Hello," she exclaimed, and couldn't do more than just smile and hold up a hand, seeing his astonished expression.

"… Hi." He said after a moment, turning his eyes away from her and looking to the grass.

"How's life?" she questioned simply, keeping her gaze on him and trying to keep the atmosphere light. She hated the tension that always grew between her and Shikamaru whenever they were alone.

"Normal, I guess," he mumbled, raising his eyes up to the stars, still not meeting hers.

She didn't fail to notice him feeling uncomfortable, and wanted to know why. She shuffled closer a bit without noticing his temporary rigidness, and finding herself softening as she eyed his face, but still feeling a bit worried – also annoyed; for he didn't seem to have much interest in talking to her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her voice now a little deeper, and bit her lip in frustration. He noticed the disappointment in her tone and turned his head to her, catching her studying expression.

"What makes you think there's something wrong?" he muttered, trying to mask his emotions, including the sudden rush of heat into his face. She had come closer when he'd had his eyes somewhere else, and it was almost impossible to blush with Temari and him in such a close proximity.

"When I talk to someone, I don't want to be ignored." She spoke solemnly, keeping her eyes firmly on his own. Shikamaru finally found the courage to meet her eyes, capturing her blue-green orbs with his dark ones and softening at the depth and intensity of hers.

"I'm sorry. I think I just got carried away by my thoughts." He murmured, giving her a look of apology. He scanned her face, admiring the way the large moon before them gave a dull, eerie glow to her delicate face.

"Hey, it's okay. I just thought if you really weren't enjoying my company," she laughed nervously.

Shikamaru's whole mind screamed _'You're the one who's company I'll always enjoy, wherever we are', _but thanks to his logical reasoning he just nodded stiffly and turn his head to the beautiful scene above. The stars were as bright as ever, with a few of them twinkling vibrantly.

"The sky is beautiful," Temari managed to sigh. "You're so lucky you've got this kind of amazing sky. You should see the one we have."

As soon as she brought her eyes down to his face, she noticed that he had curved his lips into a smirk and his eyebrow was arched in a way that made her weaken slightly.

"You really seem to enjoy staring at the skies," he noted, letting out a small laugh, in unison with Temari.

"So do you." She quipped.

"Uh huh, so much that I fall asleep under the clouds." He shrugged, but the smile was still on his face.

"I think I should try the same. Falling asleep in front of clouds is still better than in front of a boring movie."

"That's why it is boring; it's because you were probably sleeping during the most interesting parts." 

The small laugh she let out turned into a giggle. Temari's stomach starting to flutter a little bit, but she ignored it, shifting just a tad closer to him once again. She found herself now actually _enjoying _Shikamaru's company, instead of being pissed at him moments before. She wondered exactly what had caused her to be so content with him; her consciousness had basically despised him earlier. _Why the sudden attraction now?_

Her chuckling face lowered into a smile, as she eyed his gentle face and the rich brown eyes that held her gaze; making her face heat up. _He does have nice eyes. Check. _

"So, what were you doing today?" he asked her.

"Basically just wandering around without a clue of my whereabouts, why?"

He curved his lips into a smirk in a way that made her heart skip a beat. _He has the most captivating smirk. Check. _"What an adventurous little girl we have here." He teasingly muttered.

"Watch who are you calling little," she said, her smile now disappearing from her face. He watched her for a moment with solemn eyes. Their faces were now within mere inches of each other, and taking in her beauty, it seemed almost impossible for Shikamaru to restrain himself from kissing her right then. He was quite unsure if she could return the feelings he felt for her; afraid that she'd slap his face right there if he _did _kiss her.

Temari watched him with a serious face, but her eyes now had that special, mischievous glint that made him take all his willpower to not do what he desired. But, as he examined her teal orbs, it was soon sure that she wouldn't really mind. At all, actually. She stared deeply back at him, wanting to press her lips against his. She was uncertain of his desire, though, and decided to hold back for now; for if she did do it, he'd most likely be startled by her actions and avoid Temari for the rest of his life. She was perfectly aware that she was troublesome and crude and all those things in Shikamaru's opinion, but as he'd kept it quiet for most of his life, she didn't want it to turn for the worse, with him insulting her.

They were still like that for a moment; when he leant a little closer, she found her eyes closing halfway, awaiting for contact. She was now positive that _she _desired to kiss him, and was slowly starting to believe that _he _wanted to do the same. The flutter in her stomach had long ago turned almost unbearable, and now she was thinking that maybe it was just his shyness that kept the suspense, or if it was the way he knew how to handle women.

A few seconds after, Shikamaru found his resolve finally weakening. He was the first to close the gap between them, gently pressing his soft lips against hers. Temari's eyes shot open for a moment, surprised that he'd done it so swiftly she hadn't even realized. They remained unmoving, and when she found that his eyes had lidded shut, she followed suit and was already way past complaining. Her flapping stomach had turned into a light bubbling as she kissed him softly, returning the favor.

He shuffled closer to her so that the distance between them was finally nothing. Moving a hand around her shoulder, he quickly found her fingers lifting up to his cheeks and jaw in response, touching them gently. _He has the most perfectly shaped jaw. Check._

_Oh, what the hell. Everything about him is just amazing. I could as well 'check' every thing in him._

Her hands crept up from his face to his neck, caressing the short tendrils that stuck to it. This sent a shiver of pleasure down his spine as he shyly brought his other arm around her waist. As far as the kiss went, Shikamaru didn't find any sign of his whacking, so he thought mission accomplished. In fact, no such thing was never even brought up in her mind. She was completely content and happy and enjoying it all, not caring about anything around her, only concentrating on the person in front of her.

Temari broke away after a while that seemed like eternity, to have a breath of air, having concentrated a bit too much on the kiss rather than breathing. She exhaled into his lips, making his heart to beat rapidly.

"You really came down onto me, kid," she chuckled. He smirked at her.

"Watch who are you calling a kid." He whispered into her lips, mimicking her. She laughed softly at this, pulling him back down for a kiss again. He pressed his lips more intensely against hers as his courage grew, and when he slowly slid his tongue into her mouth she hummed in felicity as he flicked the roof of her mouth with it. Her hands moved down to his back, tightening her grip on his shirt as he playfully continued.

Even Shikamaru didn't quite know how he'd gotten the courage to kiss her with such intensity - let alone be brave enough to kiss her at all -, but he was going to give his best shot at it; for she had let him know that everything he did to her was good and pleasing, and the atmosphere was right as well; who wouldn't want to get their first kiss under the stars? His first kiss, at least.

It was her first one as well, in fact. And she'd never thought it would be so pleasurable. And she'd never, even in her wildest dreams, thought that the one she would share it with would be Shikamaru. The one who was always pissing her off for being so lazy, absent-minded, and having a rather negative opinion on women. She smirked against his lips as she now found no sign of that negativity in him whatsoever.

Her fingers were still clutching onto his back as he moved away, a simple smile spreading across his face. She grinned, her eyes still dancing. Her hands slid from his back to his shoulders and stopped at his chest, clutching the collar. She slowly laid down on the grass, pulling him along.

"Woman, what are you doing?" he asked her, but Temari just laughed.

"If we'll continue until the sun rises, we'll never get to see a sky this perfect again." She whispered, bringing her eyes up to the stars. He moved his hands behind his neck, but wasn't going to look at the sky. Instead, he just stared at her eyes, admiring the way the stars faintly reflected on her pupils.

"Look, Shikamaru! A shooting star." She exclaimed suddenly, in a way like she had never seen one before. Her eyes closed as she thought of a wish to be made.

"What did you wish for?" she asked, her eyes still lidded shut.

"Oh, I didn't notice the shooting star."

"You lazy bastard," she joked, turning her head and opening her eyes to meet his. "You've got a perfect view in front of your eyes and you can't even be bothered to look at it."

He grinned at her blunt remark. _So the real Temari was back._ But he didn't really mind that; and so he bent down to her neck and brushed his lips gently against it, making her inhale deeply and then sigh in bliss.

"I think I could just fall asleep, right here and now," she murmured coyly.

"Why not? The grass is soft, and it's not exactly cold up here."

He heard her yawn softly and moved a hand around her waist, pulling her close to him. His eyes started to flutter shut as well, and a peaceful and relieved feeling engulfed him. He had done the impossible and softened the crude woman who was now pressed tightly against him.

_This is nice, for now, _he thought. _I can just imagine what kind of whacking I shall receive from her brothers tomorrow, though. … _

* * *

After the sun had risen and greeted good morning to the already awake Temari, she searched around for her alarm clock, only to find that she was nowhere near her bedroom, much less her home. She had fallen asleep in the dark-haired boy's arms, who was now breathing lightly, his eyes lidded shut. She gingerly moved away from his grip, rose to her feet and stretched her tense limbs which had been mostly unmoving while she was asleep. She took an opportunity to look down at Shikamaru, whose face looked peaceful, his hair was a bit of a mess though.

She stepped behind him, crouching down and taking the hair tie out and running a hand through his deep brown hair. The action seemed to awake him from his deep sleep, as his eyes slowly opened up and stared curiously upwards at the girl stroking his hair.

"Good morning," she whispered.

"What .. are .. you doing .. ?" he mumbled silently, still a bit drowsy.

"Your hair is a mess."

"Hm. It always is."

"I guess I better head home soon, Gaara and Kankurou might be worried about me. I didn't tell them how long I'd be here."

She made to rise to her feet, but a hand gripped her wrist before she got up.

"Don't leave yet."

She looked at him, confused. He had a pleading look in his eyes, and he tugged on her wrist as she slowly crouched above him once again.

"Look up. I heard you say before that you liked the clouds here."

She raised her eyes to the blue sky that now had huge clouds scattered all over it. Temari shifted into a recumbent position beside him and found herself now transfixed on the fluffy clouds flowing against the blue.

They just lay there, in the grass, their fingers entwined; their eyes set out for the beautiful scenery above.

"What's that ..?" she wondered, eyeing one cloud, trying to make something out of it. After a while, she gave up. "Just some lump." He smirked. She didn't have much experience in finding clouds shaped like something.

"Hey .. wait ... it looks a bit like a heart. How adorable." she said, smirking.

"I would've never known you're such a hopeless romantic," he said with a grin, "judging by your actions and speech."

She laughed, bringing her eyes up to his and placing a soft, fleeting kiss onto his lips. Shikamaru cupped her face in his hands and leaned forwards, pressing his lips against hers again.

"Shikamaru," she murmured into his lips, after a while. His breath hitched. Mother of god. How he loved the way she called his name. It was always tender and beckoning, and he always found himself following the voice.

"Hm?"

"I really need to go now. We're leaving around noon."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Do you really, really need to go?"

"Yes, Shikamaru. I really, _really_ need to go. Don't act childish."

"But .."

"But what?"

"... Will you miss me?"

"You're unbelievable. I don't really know … " She whispered teasingly, smirking at his comical frown. "... Maybe a bit."

"Then it's good enough for me."

He stood to his feet and held out a hand for Temari to grab. She took it and he pulled her up, and immediately when she was on her feet she slung her arms around him and snuggled into the crook of his neck. He jumped slightly at her sudden action, but wrapped his arms around her back nonetheless. She hugged him tightly against her, wondering if she'd actually miss him. _I'm gonna miss his kisses, that's for sure._

She moved away. "That's only for you to not go insane from loneliness, since I'll only be back after a couple of weeks," she grinned.

"I'll be waiting," he said. She turned around and began trudging away, disappearing out of sight. Shikamaru raised his gaze up, but not to the sky. He stared into the distance, where the beautiful scenery opened up before him. He knew he wasn't going to see any trace of the Land of Wind, much less of Sunagakure. But he kept his mind open and wondered that maybe, someday, he'd have an unexpected opportunity to visit the village. At least he would have a good reason for that now.


End file.
